The last part of our discussion briefly introduced us to
Brownsville’s main theater of its day, The Majestic built by Interstate
Theaters in 1949 and Raul Davila who taught his son Mario how exhibit movies in
the theater he grew up in. What follows
is a continuation of decades-old anecdotes through the wide eyes of a kid
growing up in and around the theaters of yesteryear in Brownsville, Texas. This part of the interview, which was split
between our meeting at the Central library and later, a downtown restaurant, is
not so much about the end of an era but rather, the start of a new after Mario
reached adulthood and continued doing what he did best.
1949 August 17 opening of Majestic
When our conversation drifted to old westerns and James
Stewart in How the West Was Won (1962) who, by
the way, was also in the Stratton Story (1949) which was shown as the premiere
movie for the Majestic Theater’s opening in August of 1949, Mario bought of
this interesting tidbit: When ABC Interstate
Theaters was closing the downtown Majestic Theater in anticipation of its ‘new’
Northpark Cinema 1-2 which opened in May 1974 and had a much larger parking
area, the manager proposed the idea of showing the Stratton Story as an homage
to the long running downtown theater. He
made a call to the corporate office to ask if they could send the film for a
showing at the closing of the Majestic but they couldn’t make it happen. Instead, Gone With the Wind was shown when
the Majestic reopened at the close of the year.
Brownsville Herald clippings courtesy of Rick Medina last midnight show
at Majestic
Mario also seems to recall that the Majestic was temporarily
closed then reopened by a company based in Houston when it became a split
theater with the balcony section being converted to a small theater. It was soon after that the building was
“gutted” out – never to be used as a theater again.
Majestic Mall gutted interior with remnants
of beams
Some of the thick steel beams were difficult to be cut and
can still be seen today when you enter the building and look up toward the
ceiling in the area that was the theater.
The steel beams appear to be embedded into the brick walls. A theater such as Movies 10 was constructed
with prefabricated walls. The Majestic
is such a decrepit looking thing of the past that it would be a shame to
include a photo of what it appears as today.
Northpark Cinema
The Sting was the premiere movie for the Northpark which
opened in May 1974 and in February, the Amigoland Theater had opened. Cinema 1 & 2 manager Gus Gioldasis
approached Mr Hawkins at Amigoland Cinema 1-2 to drop the “cinema” name in
title since ABC Interstate Northpark Cinema 1-2 already carried that word but
Mr Hawkins refused and that was that. Assistant
Manager Carmen Abete inherited the managerial position from Gus after he passed
away in 1976.
Mario Davila with 3 platter system – the first to be used in
any Brownsville, Texas theater
Even with this advance in technology, if a film broke on
this platter system, a long stringy tangled mess might end up on the floor if
no one was in the booth to immediately stop the projector and remedy the
situation and the time to rewind film back onto the platter(s) might consume
hours.
There was another time when Raul Davila mentioned to Mario
that Johnny Crawford of Rifleman fame made a visit to promote a film he starred
in and made an appearance on the Majestic stage. Mario didn’t believe it but it was true – his
father Raul got to meet Crawford in person and shake his hand.
1965 0326
Rutledge Burger has been squeezed between the former Grande
Theater and building next to it in a very narrow space since 1924. Jack Rutledge’s Hamburger Stand was not so
different back then. A customer would
approach the window at the entrance to place an order. The grill, which is the original grill to be
used since it opened and now at the rear of the establishment, was so close to
the window that a person could singe their hand on it. The same small tables and seats were there
too. As a boy, Mario recalled coming in
to take a seat as Jack’s wife Hilda, would roll a ball of hamburger meat in her
hands, slap it down on the grill and mash it into a flat patty with a
“pallet.” With one word she would ask,
“cebolla?” to know if the customer wanted onions included, then take buns out
of a large plastic can covered by a lid,
place the buns on a table and with a wooden stick dipped in mustard spread the
condiment over the buns, add lettuce and tomato, flip the burger until it was
cooked and then place it on the bun.
Salt and pepper were added before capping it off with the top
bread. To finish it off it was summarily
wrapped in paper!
If the Houston Astros were having a game, you could be
assured that the hamburger stand would be tuned into KRGV 1290 AM. It was common to place an order to go, carry
the burgers in a small bag emitting the smell of grilled onions and enter the
theater to eat them and enjoy a movie. Jack
and Hilda’s son Martin took over the famous burger stand until selling it in
1995 but the name and business still remain.
1948 boys in bicycles
in front of the Grande Theater – the blogger’s favorite burger order: a double meat ‘n’ cheese with ham hamburger
with jalapeno and downtown musician in front of the burger stand.
Raul and Mario at
Majestic and Mac’s Toys promotional display. Photos courtesy of Mario Davila.
When these photos were taken Mario was too young to
understand that he was only modeling for the photo and excitedly pointed out
which trucks he wanted to take home that day.
Saturday matinees were sponsored by nearby Mac’s Toys to attract kids to
the theater on weekends which were especially welcomed on during the summer
where kids could enjoy a break from the heat.
Raul would invite Mario to watch Warner Brothers cartoons all day where
he would watch from the booth where his father ran the projectors or the
balcony which was opened when the theater had a high attendance for the day.
Mac’s Hobbie’s toy
store. There were
other stores in the RGV. Photos Don
McFettridge.
Lionel train sets and plastic model kits were as popular as
Tonka Trucks etc etc. Mario remembers
his train engine had reverse function that could back up and “hook” train cars
to it and let out a little steam when you poured a few drops of water into
it. Tracks also had switches to make
train change tracks just like real ones do!
His father never got him the Tonka toys he had wished for that day as he
had hoped.
Mario Davila at Movies 10 Brownsville, Texas
